Absolution
by babymene17
Summary: Everything she ever wanted. Everything she ever desired. He would be her slave. All he asked in return was her love. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Labyrinth.

Everything she ever wanted. Everything she ever desired. He would be her slave. All he asked in return was her love.

Time was slipping by quickly, the minute hand ticking evermore closer to the 13th hour on the ornate golden clock that had been her reminder during her journey to set her brother, Toby, free from the clutches of the goblins and their king.

The man, if you could call him that, who had taken Toby away from the world of mortals to this fantastical place stood before her awaiting her answer. Sara had recited, as if in a trance, the words that she knew so well, having pretended ever since she was a small child that she was a brave, glorious heroine, fearlessly fighting her way through the Labyrinth to the Goblin King, her powerful words making him cower before her.

But now she paused, not feeling so brave and fearless now, gazing up at the stately Goblin King, who was definitely not cowering. His stormy, blue eyes piercing into hers, almost mockingly as it seemed he knew she would accept his offer.

And accept she did.

Jareth grinned wickedly at her as she stammered her meek "yes", his flowing white cape and long golden hair billowing in the strong wind that seemed to pick up at his command. The desolate space filled with uneven staircases, floating as if frozen in time above their heads, snapped together, not forming the random pattern they were in before, but a single one stretching on and on as if it would reach heaven. Without asking what to do, Sara walked towards the tall, tan stoned staircase, her footsteps echoing eerily. As she placed one foot on the bottom step she turned to Jareth, the Goblin King, her master.

"You will send Toby back, won't you?"

He grinned again and nodded, raising a pristine white arm as if making a signal. Sara caught the gleam of the tiny crystal ball he had once offered to her as a gift, and watched as he threw it up into the sky and disappeared in midair.

She took that as a good sign and began climbing the tall staircase into the darkness of the unknown.

_Why did she agree to stay? Why did her heart beat rapidly, not from fear, but from excitement?_ She asked herself as she turned back to see Jareth watching her progress up the stairs.

Perhaps she knew that the adventure had only just begun.

**Please review! Love and Peace! Kupo!**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth

Sara reached the top of the echoless staircase, not knowing exactly how long each step took, and stopped in front of a perfectly smooth black crystal wall which lay in her path.

'Ok…is this a bad sign?' she asked herself, her heart beating rapidly, her reflection staring back at her with a look of uncertainty.

Just as she was contemplating turning back, starting to believe that she was not worthy of her decision, a strong, invisible force pushed her towards the wall, catching her reflection for a split second, her expression one of shear terror as she braced herself for the painful collision. She stiffened her body and clenched her teeth, waiting for the impact…which never came.

Sara turned around to look at the black crystal wall for an explanation when she realized that a hole in the shape of her body was now in the middle of the wall. Fascinated and extremely curious, she carefully tip toed back towards the wall when she noticed that it was not a wall at all, but a gravity defying screen of extremely small black crystal beads which melded together to allow solid matter to pass through unharmed. She gasped with amazement as the beads slammed together and smoothed once more into their previous state.

A little startled, she remembered exactly where she was. Jareth's Palace in the Goblin City. Stranger things than this were certainly yet to come.

"Excuse me!" A small voice said below her, starling Sara out of her musing,  
Are you Master Jareth's new mistress?"

Sara turned to behold a tiny brown creature in a simple black garment crafted into what looked like a dress.

'Ah,' Sara thought, smiling down at the being, 'This must be a goblin female.'

She kneeled down to get a better look at the gobliness. She was about the size of a five year old human child, and peering at her with anxious yet curious bright green eyes.

"Miss," she began squeakily again, "are you Master Jareth's new mistress?"

"Yes," Sara said suddenly, not pausing to consider the question, "I suppose I am."

A wide smile broke out over the creature's face as she clapped her small wrinkled hands together.

"I am so happy!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down enthusiastically, "We have not had a mistress in many, many years!"

Before Sara could question about Jareth's former mistress, the female goblin grabbed her hands and began chatting away happily.

"My name is Agnes Mistress…?"

"Sara," she said, filling in the blank and beginning to look around the room she assumed to be hers.

She was extremely pleased as she took in the room, which seemed to be straight out of the middle ages. The phrase "bed chamber" had never been the correct term for her room back home, but described this room perfectly. Lavish tapestries, depicting stories unknown to her, covered the stone walls, a cheery fire casting shadows on the smooth curved surfaces of the stones from a dark wood fireplace, mythological beasts intricately carved into the wood so it appeared they were guarding the precious fire.

Several very comfortable looking chairs filled the room, scattered around a decorative table or to a corner which, to Sara's delight, appeared to be her own little library. A silky burgundy curtain separated another part of the room, which she assumed to be the bedroom.

"Mistress, Mistress!"

Sara was jerked from her fascinated trance the décor of the room had put her under by Agnes's loud insistence.

"Yes?" Sara asked wondering what had caused Agnes to be so eager to get her attention.

Agnes, who had obviously been bracing herself for an outburst from Sara relaxed and gave a toothy grin.

"Master Jareth wishes to see Mistress Sara in precisely one hour."

Sara's nerves clenched once more as she thought about his command.

'Well, it's not like you could exactly avoid him, is it?'

She knew that, but couldn't he give her a little time to rest and think about what she had agreed to?

"Come, come!" Agnes squeaked excitedly, "Agnes will rid you of all your worries and turn you into a proper mistress for Master Jareth!"

Without another word from Sara, Agnes dragged her to a large and elaborately craved wardrobe made of the same dark wood the fireplace seemed to be. The gobliness stood up on tiptoe, barely able to reach the little brass doorknobs, and opened the double doors, moving out of the way so that Sara could see the contents inside.

Once again, Sara gasped with delight as she beheld the most beautiful dresses she had only seen in her imagination. All recreations of Medieval garments, they shimmered in the light of the fire in all colors of the rainbow, some dripping with diamonds and other jewels, others simple but still extremely elegant.

"I think this one will do!" Agnes said reaching into the wardrobe, again on tiptoe, to pull out a gown of layers of shear light blue material.

In the blink of an eye, Sara, who was before this still dressed in a dirty, patched white shirt and jeans, was transformed into a graceful lady, her hair pinned up into a sleek bun, and chandelier earrings of sapphires glittering with the slightest turn of her head. The dress Agnes had picked out minutes before she now wore and could see more clearly. It was a spectacular creation, with long, draping sleeves of the floaty, light blue material, coming to a square neckline, the empire waist decorated with sapphires exactly like her earrings, ending with a train that fanned out like a shimmering sea behind her.

"How did you…?" Sara stammered at Agnes, who simply chuckled.

"Goblin magic," she said simply, winking at her.

Sara walked over to a full length mirror which was positioned beside the wardrobe and looked at her reflection, pleased for perhaps the first time at what she saw.

'If only Daddy could see me now,' she thought sadly, 'he won't think of me as a little girl.'

She pushed all thoughts of her father and the family she had decided to leave behind to thoughts of what lay before her. What that was she had no idea, but maybe it would bring her more joy than what she had given up.

"Mistress Sara must go to Master Jareth now!" Agnes said suddenly.

"Ok…" Sara replied, a little more confident now that she appeared to be a dignified lady, "How do I get there?"

Agnes, who had been scurrying around the room, cleaning up what little mess they had made, pricked her ears and looked at Sara.

"He is coming!"

And with a small crack of noise Agnes was gone.

**Ok, I'm really sorry about how long this update took, I started college at the University of TN and I needed to get settled, but without a few dramas! Now that my live is somewhat back to normal, I will really try to update a lot more frequently.**

**Please review! Love and Peace! Kupo!**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth, but I do own Sara's lullaby, even though I wrote it in about five minutes.

"No, wait!"

Sara spun quickly from her place at the mirror, beseeching Agnes to stay with her as she waited for the unavoidable. Her cry rang loud through the room which suddenly wasn't as warm and inviting as before.

"Agnes?" she hissed to the empty room, which now seemed more like a prison.

Sara sighed and tiptoed quietly to one of the leather chairs, the train of her dress following behind her, putting her head in her hands, wondering what her fate would be.

'Well, you don't want him to think you're a coward, do you?'

With that thought, she composed herself and sat up straight and regal, her hands delicately folded on her lap, an expression of indifference plastered on her face, hiding her true emotion of utter terror.

The minutes ticked by on the hands of a large, imposing grandfather clock, a feature Sara had missed on her first glance of the room. Her deep brown eyes followed the miniscule movements of every second gone by, her dread rising with each tick.

Without warning, the room is plunged into a heavy darkness. Sara uttered a soft scream as the candles and the previously strong fire dissolved into nothing, the smoke rising and curling eerily to the ceiling.

Sara stood up and scurried over to the far corner of the room, abandoning her previous resolve of bravery hiding like a child, scolding herself for her behavior. She shivered with fear, waiting and praying for whatever was to come would finally just show its face.

Then, in her terror, her ears perceived a beautiful sound which warmed her completely as if she had sunk into a warm bath. She realized that this beautiful sound was singing a gorgeous melody, one she had not heard since her mother had used her last breath of air to comfort a weeping Sara.

_The trees are swaying in the wind_

_In tune with your lullaby_

_The sun, it's glad to see you_

_To see your lovely smile_

Tears of joy rose from her heart at the sound of this incomparable melody, encouraging her to close her eyes and spread her arms as if to fly towards the heavens. Sara disregarded the tears streaming down her face as she outstretched her arms and walked towards the voice which was now before her.

_And when I've died and gone away_

_And my memory forgotten_

_Just know this, baby girl_

_Forever I will love you so_

Sara wrapped her arms around the voice tightly, never wanting to let go of this wonderful feeling of security she had finally found. She nuzzled in closer; daring to let her fingers wander over the voice's back, running them through the long, soft hair.

Her eyes sprang open, the spell of the music broken to look up at the voice's face.

"Jareth!"

He grinned wickedly down at her and held her to him, the floor giving way as she struggled in anger to separate from him.

"...let me go…let…me…"

With a loud thud, Jareth landed on his feet, Sara in his arms, on the floor below. After she had taken a moment to regain her senses, Sara began to kick and squirm, demanding that he let her go.

"Put me down, you fiend! I am quite capable of walking on my own two feet!"

Jareth grinned at her once more and set her down gently.

"As you wish, my lady…"

Sara immediately stomped away from him, wishing desperately to hind her embarrassment.

"How dare you trick me like that!" she screamed, rounding on him accusingly, "that was a foul jest!"

Jareth stared at her in silence, as if fascinated by her daring to challenge him. He gave her an indulging smile and spoke to her in his most eloquent tongue.

"I am sorry, my lady, you will have to forgive me. My love for an entrance is great."

Sara turned on her heel so she wasn't facing him anymore; her previous tears threatening to return.

'How did he know mother's song?' she wondered to herself, carefully wiping her eyes and composing herself once more.

"It is alright, my lord," she said softly, fearful that her voice might quiver if she spoke any louder.

Jareth put a hand on her shoulder, one so strong that could surely rip her in two. It was not in a threatening way that he did this, but in one he hoped was a comfort to her.

"Come, you must be hungry. The goblins have prepared a feast in celebration of their new mistress."

Sara jerked herself out of her wandering mind and looked up at him. She realized with start his hand on her shoulder and stammered a quick reply.

"Oh, yes, of course,"

He gave her a curt nod and led her to a large set of oak double doors, his hand still on her shoulder. Sara shook with surprise at the sensation that had begun to spread throughout her body, originating from his surprisingly comforting hand.

She looked up at him once again as they moved closer and closer to the double doors and felt a surge of confidence as she somehow knew that he would let no hard befall her while she was with him.

'Maybe he isn't the ruthless king I thought he was…'

**Thank you once again for your very nice reviews and I hope you have nice things to say about this chapter! Love and Peace! Kupo!**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth.

Sara pushed past him roughly, still blushing scarlet. She furiously opened the great oak doors which lay before her which normally would have been too heavy to even attempt to move, but her determination to prove that she was not affected by his spells served as her adrenaline to muster the strength to open them to a crack she could easily squeeze through.

The sight that lay before her made her wish she had not been so rash.

Her eyes were fearfully greeted with a huge, dark stone hall, medieval in its architecture once more which spanned the space of a football field. It was not the size which frightened her; however, it was the countless number of laughing goblins which sat at a banquet table as long as the hall which did that.

"Jareth…" Sara whispered fearfully as the goblins barred their yellow teeth in mocking smirks in her direction.

Jareth suddenly appeared at her side and placed a white gloved hand on her shoulder.

"Do not fear, my dear," he whispered as gently as a lover's caress, "as long as I am with you, you need not be afraid of them. They are but tiresome children in reality and all they want is a little fun."

Sara doubted this very much as she watched a rather large and ugly goblin take a huge bite out of the wooden table in front of him and chew it greedily.

"Come Sara," She heard Jareth's voice say beside her.

She followed him without hesitation, not wanting to be without human company for a second. Jareth displayed every quality of a king as he made his way along the table, the goblins still smirking but clearly showing as much respect for him as they possibly could. Sara followed timidly in his wake; avoiding eye contact with the goblins as if one look would prompt them to attack her. They did nothing of the sort, of course, as Jareth was with her.

After about five minutes of what seemed to be a never ending line of hungry looking goblins, they came to a regal looking high backed chair made of a dark wood.

"This is for you, my dear," Jareth said drawing the chair out for her with a slight flick of his wrist, "and this is where I leave you."

Sara, who was struggling into the chair, fighting with her long dress which had begun to twist around her ankles, looked up at him suddenly in surprise.

"You can't be serious!" but he was gone.

Panicked again, Sara sharply looked around the room, not wanting to believe that he had left her all alone…with the goblins…

'Why do I always get left alone in this place?" Sara thought as she smiled timidly at the surrounding goblins, "If only Hoggle or Ludo were here…"

Her mind drifted to her friends that had helped her in her adventure and hoped dearly that they were safe and well. She sighed silently, doubting that she would ever lay eyes on them again.

'Well, there's no point getting upset about it now…' she rebuked herself as tears of grief threatened to fall, "you chose your lot, now you have to live with it…why the _hell _you decided to live it is beyond me…"

The dinner, if you would even consider it that, reminded Sara greatly of a scene straight out of Shakespeare's _The Taming of the Shrew_. The goblins, not merely content with eating the meal, what that meal consisted of she wasn't quite sure, but behaved with lacking manners, throwing food at the ceiling and, of course, at each other.

"SILENCE!" A powerful voice bellowed from all corners of the hall, quieting the goblins immediately.

Sara searched for the source of the voice, her eyes widening as she found what she was looking for.

It was Jareth who had made the command and who now was standing on top of the table at the far end, every last goblin now focused on him as he walked slowly but surely down its length. No one said a word as progressed he glared at each of the goblins in turn, silently cursing them all as they had made a mockery of his kingdom before his new _bride…_

Before she knew it, Jareth had reached her side of the table, his knee high black boots in her line of vision. Sara nervously looked up at him, her heart stopping momentarily as her eyes locked with his.

"My _loyal_ subjects…" he began sarcastically, his steely eyes still focused on her, "acting as if you were uncivilized animals is _not _the way to behave in front of a lady…"

The goblins momentarily abandoned their fixed gaze upon their ruler as they began to whisper furiously at this announcement.

'What is he up to?' Sara asked herself, extremely confused at what he had to say, but terribly interested at the same time.

Jareth smirked at them all and continued to speak.

"Therefore…as it seems that none of you even care about your King's well being, I suppose that I will no longer care for your own."

And with another flick of his wrist, the table and all that it held disappeared. The goblins landed with a rough drop from the benches which had also disappeared, as Jareth landed gracefully on his feet to the granite stone tile.

An angry uproar from the goblins echoed throughout the hall, as they were still quite hungry from the day's work in the goblin city and the castle. They bared their teeth at Jareth, threatening him in hopes that their meal would be returned to them but retreated as Jareth merely shook a finger at them in disapproval.

"Such a pity…" he said, laughing at them as they lowered their heads, not wanting to upset Jareth and provoke his wraith any further.

Sara, who had been watching the entire scene and sympathizing with the goblins stood from her chair, determination etched onto her face.

"Jareth, please allow your subject to continue the meal," she entreated, each careful step bringing her evermore closer to him, "as you said before, they are merely tiresome children just wanting to have a little fun."

Jareth watched her as she made her argument, pleased with what she had said. Nevertheless, he continued to smirk at her before he gave an answer.

"And like tiresome children, Sara, they deserved to be punished," He said, looking around the hall once more, "For their punishment, they will be responsible for their own sustenance until they learn to behave properly in front of a lady. Or, better yet, perhaps they would learn proper manners if the lady they were so _desperate_ to impress was, in fact, their new Queen and their King's new bride…"

Sara couldn't help but blanch at Jareth's words. _His Queen…his BRIDE!_ She could say nothing as he continued to speak.

"There it is then!" Jareth said triumphantly, "My subjects…my _dear_ subjects…will fend for themselves until I have a new Queen!"

His eyes traced over every being in the room as he confidently walked to the double doors. He stopped as he beheld Sara, her mouth open slightly in disbelief.

"And let me warn you Sara," he said, one hand upon the elaborately carved silver door handle, "When I told you they were "tiresome children" I was not exaggerating…"

With a final laugh and a look back at the occupants of the room, he left.

Sara continued to stare after him, long after each of the goblins in turn had gazed at her with pleading eyes and quietly left the room. As the last goblin, a rather small one who could barely open the great door a crack without accidentally crushing his skeletal fingers, Sara finally abandoned her post and solemnly crept into a far corner of the room, dark and quiet enough to regain her thoughts.

_Sara…her…a Queen _and _a bride?_

It wasn't like she hadn't been excepting it; why _else_ would she have been offered the chance to stay with him? But to finally hear it said out loud was more than she could handle at the moment after mere hours before having made probably the most important and life altering decision of her life.

Sara shook her head and stood up, crossing the massive hall once more towards the infamous oak doors, which took her a few minutes to manage open. She stepped out into the much smaller room Jareth had taken her to before, continuing on until she reached a part of the castle she had not been to yet, her mind set on returning to her room.

'Nice going Sara!' she thought angrily, 'Of course you have no idea where your room even is!'

After cursing to herself under her breath for a few moments, she bit her tongue and began to wander around the many halls and corridors, which all looked exactly the same, hoping to be lucky enough to stumble across her destination.

"Damn!" she yelled loudly, after at least a half an hour of searching, "I _know_ I have passed this tapestry at least twice! Is _everything_ in this universe a labyrinth!"

"It isn't when you know where you are going…"

Sara, who had been scowling intently at the smiling hunters in the tapestry blissfully chasing a mythical beast, nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise at the voice just behind her. Or rather, below her…

"Agnes!" She said, spinning around with joy at blessed sight of the friendly female goblin, "Thank God you found me! I have no idea where I am!"

Agnes smiled pleasantly and grabbed Sara's hand, pulling her in the direction of what Sara hoped to be her room.

"You certainly had us worried, my lady," Agnes said in her squeaky little voice, "You do know how to get lost!"

Sara ignored the "us" statement as Agnes brought her to her bedroom door in a matter a minutes and kneeled down to Agnes's height.

"Thank you for finding me, Agnes," Sara said, feeling rather foolish for being so close to her room after all.

Agnes smiled at Sara as she stood up once more and entered her room and bowed as a response. The Gobliness continued her chores she was told to do before ordered by Jareth to go fetch Sara from wherever she may have wandered off to.

"Oh dear…" Agnes whispered to herself as she picked up her miniature broom and dust pan, "I do hope that Sara knew I was to take her to King Jareth's chambers…"

Shrugging and deciding that it really wasn't her business to question this, she began to hum a little tune as she began once more with her house work.

**...I'm not going to make excuses as to why it took me so ridiculously long to update…just please know that I am really sorry and that I hope you still continue to read and review my story…I promise I'll be better about updating! Love and Peace! Kupo!**


End file.
